Call for scrapping of Shannon to Dublin pipeline project
A call for an alternative to the plan to pipe water from the Shannon to Dublin has been called for by the River Shannon Protection Alliance, which has said the projected costs of the project are far too expensive to justify it.
The alliance said the plan would also cause ecological damage to Lough Derg due to the huge volumes of water proposed for extraction to supply the needs of the capital city, the greater Dublin area and parts of the midlands.
The alliance said that in June of this year the Government gave Uisce Éireann the green light to proceed to Stage One Planning Permission for the Shannon-Dublin pipeline project.
It added: “The estimated cost is between €3.5 billion - €10.4 billion and the Government appointed Major Projects Advisory Group has recommended that the upward higher figure of €10.4 billion be used. “There has been uproar about the bicycle shed fiasco, the Dáil security hut and the spiralling costs of €2.24 billion for the Children’s Hospital - but nobody has batted an eyelid at the estimated cost of the Shannon Pipeline Project.”
SPILT MILK
Kay Mullane of the Alliance stated: “Here we go again, crying over spilt milk when the stable door has been well and truly shut, and the horse has bolted. It is in the taxpayers’ interest now that we try and contain the horse named the ‘Shannon Pipeline’ before it is too late.”
The Alliance said Uisce Éireann needs to tackle the wastage of millions of litres of water through leaking pipes. It said the company was no longer on track to achieve its target on tackling leakage for the current year. Ms Mullane, referring to the consequences of leakages said: “The irony that even at the projected cost of €10.4 billion, up to 50 per cent of the expensively treated Shannon water would never reach the taps in Dublin - it would simply leak into ground.
‘awash with water’
“Dublin is awash with water, but it is not properly managed. Uisce Éireann never gave serious consideration to the alternative water sources in the Greater Dublin Area.
“The River Shannon Protection Alliance wants to see an independently designed alternative to Shannon Project using the existing water resources available in Dublin, which would probably be in the region of €500 million.
WARNING ON DERG
Said Ms Mullane: “If this pipeline were to be constructed it will have serious consequences for Lough Derg ecologically and environmentally.
“Uisce Éireann insist they only intend abstracting two percent of the average flow of the Shannon.
“The critical period of abstraction are the summer months when the Shannon has very low flows.
“The capacity of the lake to sustain an abstraction of 330 million litres in dry summers will involve the lowering of the lake - in drought conditions it will take every drop of available water from Lough Derg.
“Lough Derg will become a reservoir that is a Greater Dublin Area Reservoir in all but name.
“The River Shannon Protection Alliance are confident there are alternative solutions to Dublin’s water needs that are not unjustifiably expensive and environmentally unsustainable.”
Ms Mullane concluded: “It would not be prudent in the interests of the country as a whole to commit this major resource [The Shannon] on the basis of an inadequate proposal”.
The statement issued this week by the alliance comes on top of serious concerns expressed by local anglers, boat users and environmentalists about the impact the extraction of high volumes of water would have on Lough Derg, which is an EU-designated Special Area of Conservation.